


Don't Come Back

by orphan_account



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Gen, Pre stanford era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-06
Updated: 2012-10-06
Packaged: 2017-11-15 17:52:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/530017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The night Sam left</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Come Back

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks again to my beta bubblegum-queen!

Dean heard muffled shouting when he reached the door and cursed to himself. He knew he shouldn’t have left them alone. With a deep breath, he braced himself for the fight he knew he would find inside and walked in.

“So that’s it then? You’re just going to turn your back on me and your brother?” he heard his father shout.

“I’m not turning my back on you! Stop trying to make this into an ‘us or them’ thing!” Sam’s voice was booming, so much different from the scrawny kid he used to be. Dean sped up, not wanting the fight to escalate like he knew it would.

“Hey, guys, come on. What’s going on?” he said immediately upon entering the room, trying to interrupt before the shouting started back up.

“Your brother’s leaving for Stanford!” he shouted, albeit quieter than before. Maybe they could make some progress. Then what his dad said actually hit him. Hard. He swallowed hard and turned to look at Sam, trying to hide everything he was feeling.

“What?” He hoped that didn’t sound as choked to them as it did to him. The look Sammy gave him in response actually looked guilty, although Dean couldn’t tell if it was for leaving or for not telling him.

“I got accepted into Stanford, Dean.”

“Oh.”

“Maybe you can talk to some sense into your brother,” John snarled out.

“I don’t need sense talked into me!” At that, the two of them started closing in on each other, fists clenched and identical expressions on their faces.

“Whoa, stop it!” he yelled, getting in between them and his arms pushing against them both. “Now let’s just calm down and talk about this!”

“I’ve tried talking! Your brother’s not listening!”

“I’m listening, I’m just not rolling over and doing what you say!”

“Guys!”

“Sam, if you walk out that door--”

“Dad,” Dean cut in, desperate to stop him from saying something he knew they would all regret.

“If you walk out that door,” he continued, firmer than before, “don’t bother coming back.”

Both of them stared at their dad in shock. Sam tried to hide the hurt he felt when those words left his dad’s mouth, but Dean could still see it in the way he clenched his jaw and the way his eyes started shining. Dean looked at his dad desperately.

“Dad, come on. You don’t mean that.” Dean’s voice was quiet and anxious at seeing his family falling apart again.

“Yeah, he does, Dean.”

He watched, speechless, feeling helpless as Sam stormed off to finish packing and his dad slammed the door behind him in his way out. He didn’t know what to do.  Dean heard the sounds of things being thrown and walked to where Sam was.

“So were you just going to tell me on your way out the door?” Sam stiffened at Dean’s words and heaved a sigh. When he turned, Dean was treated to a more serious version of Sam’s puppy dog eyes.

“Dean.” He was using his patient voice on him, the one he used when he wanted Dean to calm down and listen. “Dean, look, this hunter life, this is what you and dad want. It’s not what I want. It’s never been what I want.”

“So you’re just gonna bail on me and dad?”

“I’m not bailing on you and dad, Dean! I just—I want to go to Stanford. I want a normal life. I wanna be able to have friends and get a girlfriend and be able to go home to the same place every night. I just want--”

“A normal life.” Dean rubbed his hand over his face. “Sam, we’re hunters. Normal isn’t possible for us.”

“You sound just like Dad,” he said with a derisive laugh. “I should’ve known you’d side with him.”

“I’m not siding with anyone, Sam!”

“Then why aren’t you supporting me?” Sam was looking at him with those puppy eyes again, the ones that always made Dean cave. He shrugged helplessly and dropped his eyes so he wasn’t looking at him.

“You’re my brother, Sammy,” he finally choked out.

“Dean, me going away to Stanford isn’t going to stop us from being brothers.” He stepped closer until Dean had no choice but to look straight at the puppy eyes. “I would really appreciate it if you supported me on this.” He knew Sam wasn’t going to back down on this, and he couldn’t get any words out anyway. When no reply was forthcoming, Sammy just shook his head and turned back around.

“Sammy--”

“You won’t side with dad but you won’t side with me either.” He threw another shirt into the suitcase. “You can’t stay in the middle forever, Dean.”

“I can try,” he said, a pathetic attempt at levity that missed completely. Sam turned to him with a bitchface that Dean knows he’ll miss even if he’ll never under pain of death admit it.

“Dean.”

“You two fight enough without me having to get involved.”

Sam seemed to flinch, but he couldn’t tell. Dean needed a drink, and he couldn’t keep watching Sam get ready to leave them.

“Dean, wait. Look, I’m going to Stanford and I just--”

“No worries, Sam. I won’t bother you,” Dean said, and with an obviously fake smile, left the room.

“That’s not what I was going to say,” he managed to get out, but Dean had already left.


End file.
